In some areas, particularly metropolitan areas, vehicles and pedestrians may co-exist in close proximity to each other. While sometimes pedestrians have their own thoroughfare for travel that is separate from a vehicle roadway (e.g., a sidewalk), occasionally pedestrians may have to enter the vehicle roadway, such as, for example, to cross a street. While pedestrians may generally be vigilant in assessing their surroundings and entering a roadway without being hit by a vehicle, this may become increasingly difficult in situations where the vehicle does not signal an intent to change its direction, where the area is dark or poorly illuminated, and/or where the pedestrian does not notice the vehicle. In addition, because of certain driving conditions such as weather, nighttime driving, or the like, a driver of the vehicle or an autonomous system within the vehicle may not notice the pedestrian's presence in the roadway.
Accordingly, a need exists for a pedestrian identification system that detects the presence of pedestrians that are generally in the path of the vehicle.